Jaan Soosaar, director of communications with the Nova Scotia Office of Aboriginal Affairs, has been awarded the Premier's Award of Excellence for his film Wabanaki: People of the Dawn.

The film depicts the discovery of more than 20,000 Mi’kmaq artifacts in Nova Scotia's Mersey River in the summer of 2004 and delves into the history of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Confederacy included several bands in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.

Jaan (John) Soosaar has just completed a second film on the lives of the Mi'kmaq today Entitled Wabanaki People of the Dawn II.

Wabanaki: People of the Dawn received a Canadian Gemstone Award at a ceremony last fall. Both films will become part of the curriculum in grades 10 and 11 in Nova Scotia schools this fall.

John Soosaar is a veteran journalist and television producer in Atlantic Canada.

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